THE TROJAN HORSE GOES SOUTH

"But come now, change thy theme, and sing of the building of the horse of wood, which Epeius made with Athena's help, the horse which once Odysseus led up into the citadel as a thing of guile, when he had filled it with the men who sacked Ilium."
~ Homer, The Odyssey.

Still think talk of a Turkish invasion of South Kurdistan is all about PKK? Think again. If there will be any invasion, a good portion of the reasoning for invasion will have to do with the TSK protecting its own business interests in South Kurdistan, from Zaman:

While Chief of General Staff Gen. Yaşar Büyükanıt repeatedly argues that a cross-border operation against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) is necessary to severe its support from northern Iraq, the Armed Forces Pension Fund (OYAK) is gleaning ever-increasing profits from its businesses in and with Iraq.

Of the 1,200 Turkish firms participating in the reconstruction of Iraq, OYAK has had the biggest piece of the pie. The firm has been selling cement produced in its facilities in Mardin, Adana, Bolu and Ünye to Iraq and exporting iron bars there from its steel and iron plants in İskenderun and Ereğli (Erdemir).

According to the article, Turkish companies are working throughout South Kurdistan, but OYAK is working their through front companies "such as Bakra and Başkent Uluslararası Nakliyat and Dış Ticaret Ltd Şirketi, RE-BA Dış Ticaret Ltd. Şirketi, Nur Ticaret, Fefoğlu, Yüksel, Barkınlar, Saki İthalat and İhracat Gümrükleme Nakliyat Sınır Ticareti, etc. The transportation of materials exported by OYAK to northern Iraq is operated by Has Nakliyat. Construction materials sent by OYAK are stored in the UN storage depot, located near İbrahim Halil Highway, in Zaho."

Just as American companies such as Dick Cheney's Halliburton, KBR, or Fluor Corporation are linked to high-ranking people in the American regime, so too the Turkish General Staff is doing the same with OYAK, without even going into the mercenary business. And just as American companies are raking in the big bucks from their government contracts in Iraq, so the Paşas' OYAK is doing the same in South Kurdistan by raking in the lion's share of overall profits:

The history of Turkey’s exports to Iraq are as follows: $371.2 million in 2000; increasing to $839 million in 2001; dipping to $649 million in 2002 before the invasion; shooting back up again to $829 million in 2003, the year of the invasion; then $1.82 billion in 2004; $2.75 billion in 2005; and an impressive $3 billion in 2006.

The Zaman article echoes similar information that was published in TDN last year.

Compounding the problem are Fethullah Gülen's racist schools which are springing up in South Kurdistan like toadstools on manure. In fact, Gülen's schools may be a worse problem because with them comes the spread of Turkish racist ideology and an emphasis on Turkish language in South Kurdistan, a fact that threatens to severely undermine Kurdish culture and language in that one part of Kurdistan where Kurds are free to express Kurdish identity. Hîwa wrote something on that last year, too.

The incredible thing about both OYAK's business and Gülen's schools is that, when it comes to South Kurdistan, both are spreading and benefiting on a purely voluntary basis--nay, they've been invited--whereas in North Kurdistan they impose themselves by force.

It would appear that the Turks learned well from their experience with the Trojan Horse. Will South Kurdistan take a lesson from history before it's too late?